“Teacher, didn’t you say you were going to train me properly? It’s only been less than half an hour. The other magic classes are probably still in session.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m ending class early because I need to forge, or find, a weapon that’s perfect for you. I’ll look first, and if I can’t find one, I’ll forge it myself. This is very important. A good weapon will take your swordsmanship to the next level.”
Teacher Ajimi sounded completely confident, and Zhu Qiu wholeheartedly agreed.
“I understand, Teacher.”
“Good. Then class is over for today. See you tomorrow morning.”
“Yay!”
Zhu Qiu happily skipped back along the same path she had taken earlier.
When she reached the academy gate, the two Dragon Race guards noticed a student trying to leave and asked disdainfully,
“Student, school isn’t over yet. If you’re trying to skip class, I’d advise you not to study at this academy. We train only the Dragon Race’s finest talents. We don’t need someone as unmotivated as you.”
Hey!
That immediately annoyed Zhu Qiu.
“Who’s skipping class? My class is already over.”
“Class is over? Are you kidding me? If you’re going to make excuses for skipping class, at least come up with a better one.”
The tall, skinny Dragon Race guard sneered and lowered the fork spear in his hand to block her path.
“How about I call my teacher over to prove it?”
While the two guards hesitated, Zhu Qiu slipped past them. She leaned close to the short, chubby guard’s ear and shouted loudly,
“My teacher is Ajimi! I’m the only student in the academy’s Swordsmanship Department. If Teacher Jimi finds out you’re deliberately stopping me, be careful he doesn’t turn you into meat paste~”
The short, chubby guard looked at Zhu Qiu’s tiny frame and burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! You? The only student in the Swordsmanship Department? What a joke. If someone like you can learn swordsmanship, then I can climb a tree.”
The tall, skinny guard chimed in,
“Get back to class already, or we won’t be so polite next time. Remember, you’re just a student, not the Dean. Why should I believe your nonsense?”
He reached out to drag Zhu Qiu back, but she refused to give an inch.
To put it bluntly, the two guards simply didn’t want to let her leave.
Zhu Qiu couldn’t stand them either. Just because they were academy guards, they looked down on others.
Just then, clouds covered the sun.
She no longer wanted to waste time arguing with the two complete opposites, so she decided to leave peacefully.
The next instant, she disappeared from where she was standing.
Both guards froze in shock.
“Oh no, boss! The kid actually got away.”
The short, chubby guard exclaimed.
“So what if she got away today? She can’t avoid us forever. We’ll see if she comes back tomorrow. If she dares show up again, just watch how I make things difficult for her.”
Meanwhile, Zhu Qiu returned to her home using the Dragon of Darkness’s Inherited Magic.
“Seriously… how did those two ever become academy guards?”
Still, her anger quickly faded.
The more she dwelled on it, the more irritated she became.
She sat at the table, already looking forward to tomorrow’s lessons.
Just as Zhu Qiu’s imagination started running wild, a communication request came from Zhu Xiaxia.
“My precious daughter, are you free right now?”
“Zhu Xiaxia, school’s already over.”
“So early? That’s wonderful. I’ve already asked Xiaguang to deliver everything. To prevent anyone with bad intentions from sneaking in and stealing it, I had her put everything in the wardrobe. That includes the Ancient Magic Book. You can read it whenever you’re bored.”
“Thank you, Mother!”
Zhu Qiu rushed excitedly to the wardrobe and opened it.
Inside sat a huge box.
When she lifted the lid, it was filled to the brim with sparkling Gold Coins.
“Wow! Wow! Wow! So much money!”
She was so thrilled that she wanted nothing more than to pour all the Gold Coins onto the bed and swim through a sea of treasure.
“So, my precious daughter, do you like it?”
“I love it! Thank you, Mother!”
“I’m glad you do. I still have work to do, so I’ll be going now. Bye-bye.”
“Bye-bye.”
After ending the call with Zhu Xiaxia, Zhu Qiu immediately wrapped herself up so no one could recognize her, took a handful of Gold Coins, and headed outside to buy a proper bed.
After all, a folding bed could never be as comfortable as a real one.
The moment she stepped outside, the blazing sun almost drove her back indoors.
Only one feeling filled her mind.
So hot…
Whatever.
I’ll finish this as quickly as possible.
After a hard-fought shopping trip, Zhu Qiu finally returned home with a brand-new bed, bedsheets, a quilt, and a pillow.
She assembled the bed and neatly arranged everything.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she smiled.
Yiluo Enya is definitely going to be surprised when she gets back.
Next time, I have to ask her to bring me more meat dishes.
Living on vegetables alone just won’t do.
For now, I’ll spend some time studying the Ancient Magic Book.
I’m bored anyway.
Although she had already learned most of the Dragon language and could understand the simpler parts, there were still plenty of complicated passages that completely baffled her.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t recognize the words.
It was that she couldn’t understand them once they were put together.
For example,
Mix slippers with the evening glow, then combine the result with Screw Number Seven to create cloud cookies.
Of course, that was only an example.
It wasn’t an actual passage from the book.
But that was exactly how incomprehensible it felt to Zhu Qiu.
Time skipped ahead to 5:00 PM.
Yiluo Enya had finished school.
Most students came from distant City Districts, so they lived in the academy dormitories.
Only a handful of students, like Yiluo Enya, who either failed to get a dorm room or lived near the academy, had to leave through the front gate every day.
The two Dragon Race guards spotted an Elf walking among the Dragon Race students, and it was as though some hidden switch had been flipped.
They immediately began mocking her with ill intentions.
Yiluo Enya couldn’t be bothered to pay them any attention.
“I’m home!”
She pushed open the door and walked inside.
There she found Zhu Qiu asleep at the table with the Ancient Magic Book open beneath her.
Yiluo Enya quietly walked over.
Looking at Zhu Qiu’s adorable sleeping face, she desperately wanted to poke her soft little cheeks.
But she managed to suppress the urge.
“Yiluo Enya, you’re back.”
Zhu Qiu suddenly woke up and grabbed Yiluo Enya’s hand.
“Y-Yes… I’m back.”
She sounded a little nervous.
“I bought you a new bed. You don’t have to sleep on that folding bed anymore.”
Zhu Qiu pointed proudly at the new bed.
“Ah… Th-That’s… isn’t this a little too much? Won’t it take up too much space in your room?”
“Not at all. It fits perfectly. From now on, I’ll also cover your meal expenses. Stop eating nothing but vegetables every day, okay?”
“Vegetables?”
Yiluo Enya looked puzzled.
“But I have money. You pay for the room, and I’ll pay for the food. That’s only fair.”
“You have money? Then why do you eat nothing but vegetables every day?”
Zhu Qiu couldn’t understand.
What kind of rich person only ate vegetables?
Unless they were trying to lose weight.
The question only confused Yiluo Enya even more.
She could only explain,
“But… I’m an Elf. We can only eat vegetables. We can’t eat meat.”